Extraordinary Results from Meditation Training at Work

posted by Martin Boroson on May 13 2017

How much time do you have for change?

Keep in mind, as you read these two case studies, that we ask users for practice of just one minute per day …

Global Pharmaceutical Company

The One Moment Company was asked by a global pharmaceutical company—a “healthy workplace” award-winner—to design a custom mindfulness training for their employees. We’ll call this company GPC[1].

The training program, named Time for a Moment®, was based on the One-Moment Meditation® methodology created by One Moment Company founder, Martin Boroson.

Time for a Moment is a deceptively simple course. Although delivered online, it involves almost no screen time: users receive one ten-minute audio lesson per week that they can download, keep, and listen to at their leisure. Each lesson focuses on just one key concept or skill, with users encouraged to do ‘homework’ based on each lesson—practice that takes just one minute per day.

Although the course requires very little time each day, it does last for sixteen weeks—helping users build new habits and supporting them as they learn how to insert moments of mindfulness at critical junctures throughout their day.

Time for a Moment is now GPC’s core mindfulness offering. To date, over 1000 employees have participated.

Improvements in 4 Energies

GPC conducted research on the pilot group of 46 participants, using their standard performance metrics that assess four energies — physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual (i.e. sense of meaning and purpose) — as defined by the Human Performance Institute.

The results of the pilot showed a 5% improvement in all four aspects of energy.

Note that many employees in the pilot group had already received significant resilience training prior to starting Time for a Moment–they had already been trained in stress management, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, etc. So this 5% improvement was on top of that.

One of the most interesting aspects of these results was that although Time for a Moment was that improvements were seen across the board, including in areas such as physical energy that were not targeted by the course.

We quickly surmised that having the ability to clear your mind and be more present boosts performance in all areas–mindfulness is simply good for everything. For example, by practicing One-Moment Meditation, employees naturally become more aware of their physical needs and develop better “physical energy” habits, such as taking breaks, stretching, eating well, and staying hydrated.

Drilling down further into the data from this pilot, we noticed two even more significant findings[2]:

Substantial Help for People in Trouble: 53% improvement

At the completion of the course, the number of employees who tested in the “red zone”—i.e. people who scored at the bottom for personal resilience—had dropped from 15% to 7%, a reduction of 53%.

Helping those employees who have very low personal resilience is vital–it can have a huge effect on many areas of their lives. Even a marginal improvement can make a big difference in their well-being.

That’s not the only benefit, however. This population is also the most costly and disruptive for an organization. They are responsible for high rates of absenteeism, high healthcare costs, and significant rates of error. They may even have interpersonal problems that make collaboration difficult. Thus shifting 53% of these people into a state of higher resilience should provide significant cost savings and boosts to productivity … as well as making the workplace happier for everyone.

Making Good Performers Great: 33% improvement

On measures of agility (in all energies), 45% of the population tested “high” before taking the program. After the program, this number jumped to 60%–an increase of 33%.

This suggests that this course is not just helpful for poor performers or those with stress-related conditions. It moves people who are already good performers into the high performance category.

This makes sense: the primary skill taught in our training—how to make a meaningful change in your mindset quickly—could provide the marginal difference that makes your talented people eliminate what’s holding them back and become more agile and innovative.

OMM12: Our “off the shelf” training program

Of course, not every company wants a custom-designed training program.

That’s why we developed OMM12, an off-the-shelf solution that enables a variety of small and large companies to provide an e-learning option to any number of employees on a rolling basis.

OMM12 has been selected by Kaiser Permanente—the California-based integrated managed healthcare system with over 10 million subscribers—as the stress management solution that they offer to their corporate healthcare subscribers.

The results—again for a program that asks users to practice just one minute per day—are dramatic:

Perceived Stress Scale: 31% improvement
Feel able to handle personal problems: 36% improvement
Feel on top of things: 45% improvement
Able to notice ‘overwhelm’ and take a recovery break: 48% improvement

Numbers Aren’t Everything

Finally, although this article has focused on quantitative results, we believe that the way real people describe the benefits of our training–in their own words–makes the value of our training vivid.

Indeed, we have received thousands of testimonials and thank you notes from users showing the impact of our courses. Here are just a few:

It’s hard to explain how taking a minute can center you, but you really notice a difference the longer you do it. Then you notice changes without even thinking about OMM. For example, I received some very upsetting news at work, and previously I would not have been able to hold back tears. Instead, I was able to check in with myself, take a deep breath, and keep my composure.
Immediately going into a minute meditation when something negative/unexpected presented itself. That one minute gave me a much calmer disposition and different approach reaching a quick solution rather than whining and complaining about it.

Using the knowledge, practice, and skills from this course I have gained the ability to recognize unwanted negative changes in my emotional and behavioral state. Before these changes can grow to an unmanageable size I can now intervene and make a meaningful positive improvement to my mind-set. Examples would be getting frustrated with my boss at work, giving up during an exercise routine, feeling overwhelmed by my personal improvement goals, or even getting angry during a conversation with a friend. In each case I have felt the negative emotions creep in, but I have been able to identify that it is happening, and make the conscience decision that I will not allow myself to get stuck in that mind-set.

It is amazing to see how powerful and calming it is to just focus on your breath, even for just a moment.

It helped me calm myself when I started to feel overwhelmed. I feel more productive and organized, more in harmony.
This course helped me to feel like I have an acceptable way to decompress any frustration or anger I may have accumulated during my work or personal time. It was refreshing to know that I didn’t need to step out of the physical location or pause for a long period of time in order to refresh myself and my thoughts.

I’ve been doing OMM for over a year now and it has changed my life.

Great course for people who may be feeling overwhelmed either personally or professionally.

This course has improved my overall outlook and hopefulness, and I now feel more confident that I can attain any goal I set for myself.

I loved the lessons. They taught that even a minute to myself makes a difference. I feel happier.

Would you like to bring One Moment® Training Solutions to your workforce?

Talk to us now … please use the contact link above.

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[1] Due to a confidentiality agreement, we are not permitted to advertise their name. That said, they have spoken about our collaboration at several conferences, and presented our results to the Mindfulness Initiative in the UK Parliament. If you are a corporate buyer interested in speaking with them, i.e. to obtain a reference, we can arrange this.

[2] For these results, the sample size was too small for statistical significance.